Wednesday, April 15, 2009

No Children Left By Design

No Child Left Behind was one of the few domestic bipartisan accomplishments of the Bush administration full of Republican morality such as fighting "soft bigotry" that was as equally palatable for Democrats and Civil Rights advocates alike.

Although it upped the ante of Federal involvement to an uncomfortable level for many Republicans it was still up to individual states to set the standard and as Daniel L. Whitney says just "git 'er done." As it turns out Republicans were uncomfortable for naught since Mr. Bush failed to grease the wheels of social progress with money.

In Education Week blogger Diane Ravitch concludes that "Obama has given President George W. Bush a third term in education policy" and that "Arne Duncan is the male version of Margaret Spellings." As one may recall outgoing Ed Secretary Spelling planted big sloppy wet compliments on current Secretary Duncan at a ceremony in Chicago at the beginning of the year lauding him as a true reformer... like herself. If Mr. Obama had been interested in changing the way Education in America works this should have been his cue to drop Duncan like Silva dropped Irvin OK OK like Ali dropped Foreman.

Last November Barack Obama appointed professor of education at Stanford’s School of Education, Linda Darling-Hammond as head of his education policy transition team.Yes! He's got he's got but then in January... he ain't got. She was supposed to develop education policy action plans and proposals for the Obama administration which begs the question what did she come up with and how much of it is in the Obama cocktail for change?Well I'm not hating on the President. This is the first of many misfires not because of poor choices in leadership and bad decisions but because of the business as usualness of it all and the faint smell of cronyism in the air.

Some people looking at the NCLB(No Child Left Behind) Obama version wonder what all the hub hub is about. Syracuse University professor Adam Banks left a short note on Face book that said,

the problem is that data crunching and standardized testing will *never* improve the quality of education--especially not for Black students and students of color. attempting to decide which teachers are effective and which are not can never be accomplished through students' test scores either. teacher evaluation has to happen through serious in-class observation by teachers who know their pedagogy, know the students and know the communities the schools are in.

Points well taken to be sure.In addition I suggest that to have any semblance of an informed opinion on how to address this proposed fix and the problem "Savage Inequalities" by Jonathan Kozol among others is a must read.Many of the failures and inequalities we face are by design and much of the design is by the politics of the haves and have nots. Globalization and heated academic competition from primarily China and Indian (England France Germany, etc have always been in the mix) are causing the USA to rethink how we use, abuse, advance and handicap our human resource.To not understand that the deplorable living conditions and the educational famine that exists in Chicago's North Lawndale and the South Side of Chicago primarily populated by people of color were created by people with power in business and politics who had and have choices is nothing less than irresponsible if you are from Chicago and the President of the United States.To not be aware that third world conditions that existed and may still exist in East St. Louis, Illinois were contrived and carried out by businessman is to be woefully outgunned, outnumbered, naive and unprepared to lead this country toward a civil, human, equitable, healthy functioning school system for all.

Having said that there are good things in the Obama version such as putting money behind the fix that Bush didn't do. Equity in in teacher distribution is in the language, subgrants to local educational agencies and "Innovation Fund" accommodations also look pretty good to me as far as causing the education system to no longer be self contained and unconstitutional. One may remember that a number of years ago the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the way Ohio funds its schools is unconstitutional yet to date the situation still exists. Unconstitutional or not there may not be a rich suburban school that gives my kid a 20 to 1 edge in spending and opportunity if we move from a house tax based funding of schools to something else "more equitable." So tell me what's fair about that!?

Your Host

Cavana Faithwalker was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Much of his
worldview and values have been molded by his Blackness bestowed upon him in a
working class Black, urban neighborhood. He blames his packrat tendencies, the
economy in his art and poetry on being raised by an Alabama, depression baby
momma who was raised on a farm with her nine brothers and sisters. "She is
probably the reason I fight consumerism gone amuck and the overly me-ish
influence of our society," says Cavana.

His fascination with mechanical things, physics, his aesthetics,
his sense of humor and how things relate to each other comes from construction
worker dad and others.

He has a degree in public art marketing and management from
Cleveland State University. His major is composed of Urban Studies, Studio Art and Marketing.

He says his “new best friend” now is Amit Goswami a quantum
physicist turned spiritual guru and quantum activist. " I
think something is happening worldwide as far as spiritual consciousness.
For me after almost a quarter century of mainstream and somewhat
fundamentalist Christian dogma and orthodoxy, that whole thing is giving in to a new interpretation of what
the canon says and also what is myth and what is ‘reality.’

When it comes to orthodoxy and dogma I
rather like an adage attributed to Zen Buddhism, ‘when you meet the Buddha in
the road, kill the Buddha.’"

Cavana believes in congruency. “The more you can be in sync with your
authentic self the healthier you are and the more life you bring to the things
you do, yeah congruency.” He aims
at being content in life and enjoying life. His mantra is breathe in breathe out. “Through meditating when I play my didgeridoo
I may have zeroed in on the one thing that won’t change in my world view, it
may be the constancy that anchors me, the lessons in science, those
metaphysical concepts beyond the science of plant animal relationships
surrounding oxygen are powerful. A natural outcome of this mantra is thinking
win-win, big picture, and yin yang.

Perhaps when you gravitate to something or are in accord with something it was meant to be that revelations come through it.I learned to play the didjeridoo in 30 minutes, ‘circular’ breathing and how to make sounds.Many play along time without learning ‘circular breathing’ but it just seemed like the thing to do."

Cavana is a visual and performance artists, he sings and plays
didjeridu and is aiming at attaining some level of expertise at throat singing
also know as overtone singing.

Cavana was the Poet Laureate for the City of Cleveland Heights,
Ohio from 2011-2013.

"Muhammed Ali got me into poetry with his prose and antics in the
70s," Faithwalker says. "I would write prose poetry and recite
them for fellow students in high school." He won his first poetry
contest while in high school.

Today Cavana puts himself in the activist 'box'. "A lot of folks don't like labels but we are hardwired to label and pre judge. I read this sign that said activism is the rent for living on this planet, or something like that. I like that but even more so we are all activists if we become aware and congruent. We naturally care, compassion, and get involved and wear off on those that have been beat up too much to care and get involved - empowerment. When we get too beat up someone re empowers us. Romantic view I know and I try to live into it.